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Subject:Re: Tired of giving out technical advice for free From:"CB Casper" <knowone -at- surfy -dot- net> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Tue, 26 Feb 2002 21:38:33 +0400
The comment below about lawyers got my dander up.
The other side of the coin, getting paid for your
own mistake. I wish TW's could get paid this way.
Not that I make any misteaks. (ooh, $75 for that one!)
I got a $475 bill from my laywer for a phone call
to me, to get a phone number he had lost. I had
given him the number in an earlier conversation.
Talk about getting paid for advice! He should have
paid me, but he's a lawyer, and they live in an
inverse universe.
> Exactly. So we are back to sqaure again. I guess when folks ask me questions
> that require long answers I either try and save the answers and or put them
> into my book. Ideally the book is the long term payoff for the help, and I
> have many pre-orders already :-), but still.
>
> Maybe a practical answer in this case is to write another, smaller, follow
> up work and epublish it so that not only can the original requestor buy his
> answer, but so can others.
Abe Lincoln's statement about lawyers is equally applicable to all
professionals, including tech writers.
"A lawyer's time and advice are his stock in trade."
Would you go into your local supermarket and expect to get your
groceries without paying? Does the telco let us use the line for free
because it is there?
While my local supermarket sometimes gives away samples, they are
certainly not abundant enough to feed my family. Why should writers be
any different.
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